The present invention relates in general to musical instruments and, more particularly, to a protective guard for a string instrument with electronic controls.
Musical instruments have always been very popular in society providing entertainment, social interaction, self-expression, and a business and source of livelihood for many people. String instruments are especially popular because of their active playability, tonal properties, and portability. String instruments are fun and yet challenging to play, have great sound qualities, and are easy to move about from one location to another.
Guitars are one type of string musical instrument. The musical artist or user plays the guitar by using their fingers or a guitar pick to displace one or more of the tightly strung strings from their neutral position and then releasing causing the string to vibrate as it returns to its neutral position. The pick offers certain advantages in terms of sharpness of the string vibration and clarity of the note played. Using a pick also reduces the wear and tear and discomfort on the fingers.
Unfortunately, guitar picks have the potential for scratching or marring the surface and finish of the guitar face or soundboard. The opportunity to damage the guitar with a pick is even greater for playing styles that involve the artist moving their pick hand relative to the guitar face or soundboard, e.g. while strumming the guitar, or when the artist is otherwise aggressively playing the instrument. The pick can easily slide off the strings and strike the guitar face or soundboard causing damage.
Some guitars have a pick guard mounted below the strings to protect the face or soundboard. If the pick slides off the strings, it merely strikes the pick guard which is made of a resilient material such as plastic. The pick causes little or no damage to the pick guard and in any event the pick guard can be easily and cost effectively replaced if necessary.
Many guitars include electronic preamplifiers which are designed to interface to an external power amplifier to amplify and enhance the sound of the instrument. For certain types of guitars, such as electric guitars, the pick guard is a convenient place to locate the electronic controls for the preamplifier. The preamplifier controls may include one or more rotating knobs, switches, and other push buttons. Wiring or cables must be routed from the controls on the pick guard to the cavity of the guitar where the electronic preamplifier is located. For an electric guitar, holes are routinely drilled in the face to route the wiring from the pick guard controls to the electronic preamplifier. The wiring holes in the face of an electric guitar have minimal adverse impact on the tonal properties because they are solid body instruments and much of the tone originates from the electronics and mass of the guitar body.
Acoustic guitars present a different problem. The soundboard of an acoustic guitar is a principal source of the sound coming from the instrument. Any device mounted on or mass added to the soundboard or holes drilled in the soundboard can adversely effect its natural response, performance, and tonal properties.
It is known in the prior art to mount a pick guard to an acoustic guitar to protect the surface and finish of the soundboard as noted above. Pick guards for acoustic guitars are typically cantilevered to avoid adding mass and to minimize contact and interference with the soundboard. Cantilever-mounted pick guards make it difficult to provide for strong, effective bracing. In addition, cantilever-mounted pick guards are suitable only for styles of play such as jazz where the hand does not leave the guitar and therefore do not work well when strumming the instrument.
Acoustic guitars are also known to have electronic preamplifiers. Any preamplifier controls, such as a volume control, are typically mounted to the top side of the body so as to avoid drilling holes in the soundboard and hindering its performance. The electronic controls in the top side of the body can be inconvenient to access and adjust while playing the instrument.
In one embodiment, the present invention is a musical instrument comprising a body having a resonate cavity covered by a soundboard. The soundboard has a sound hole across which a plurality of strings of the musical instrument are strung. A pick guard has a flat surface mounted to the soundboard. Electronic control components are mounted within a housing of the pick guard. A ribbon cable is coupled to the electronic control components and routed along a surface of the soundboard and through the sound hole into the resonate cavity of the body. The ribbon cable entering the resonating cavity through the sound hole does not adversely effect the natural response, performance, sound quality, and tonal properties of the string instrument and does not require any additional holes be drilled in the soundboard.
In an alternative embodiment, the present invention is a pick guard for a musical instrument comprising a first surface which is substantially flat and adapted for mounting to the musical instrument. A second surface has a flat striking region and a raised region integral with and ramping up from the flat striking region. A housing is formed in the raised region. An electronic control component is mounted within the housing.
In yet another embodiment, the present invention is a method of protecting a surface of a musical instrument comprising the steps of mounting a protective guard having a flat surface flush to a soundboard, mounting an electronic control component within a housing of the protective guard, connecting a cable to the electronic control component, and routing the cable along a surface of the soundboard and around a lip of an opening in the soundboard into a resonate cavity of the musical instrument.